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NEWS & LETTERS, December 2007 - January 2008Protest at ChowchillaChowchilla, Cal.--Hundreds of people caravanned from both San Francisco and Los Angeles areas, on Oct. 20, to the site of two of the largest women's prisons in the world, Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) and Valley State Prison for Women (VSPW). Chowchilla is in the middle of the state, far away from either of the metropolitan areas, from which the majority of prisoners come. Carrying signs like "Bring our prisoners home!" and "Money for community health, not more prisons!" the protesters opposed California's proposed "solution" to overcrowding by spending $15 billion on new prisons, more to be built on this site among others. ACCOUNTABLE HEALTHCARE A newly formed Coalition for Accountable Healthcare, comprised of various organizations and individuals already involved in prisoner support, organized this action to bring attention to the fact that the federal receiver appointed by a judge to oversee the reform of the prisons' healthcare has put women's prisons at the end of a very long list, where healthcare conditions are, in fact, torture. After a couple of years of federal courts finding the conditions in California prisons unconstitutional, the situation in them has only grown worse. The pervasive overcrowding has taken away practically all "common" spaces such as the gym and the day rooms, as they all have been converted to dormitories to house more women. The visiting rooms, providing an important contact with family and friends who can make the long trip, have been closed Mondays through Fridays, and the rooms put to other uses. Even the official CDC statistics admit that more than half of the women in prison need not be there, that they do not pose a danger to society. Californians have voted repeatedly to cut the number of prisoners by implementing alternative drug treatment programs. Yet more and more women are being rounded up and put behind bars. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and the overwhelming majority of women in prison are domestic violence survivors. Sexism is manifest in the fact that an act of defending one's family from harm, when done by a man, can be applauded, but when done by a woman defending her children or herself from abusive domestic partners is called "messy" and she gets life. 'THEY ARE OUT THERE FOR US' The protest march started at the entrance to CCWF. Led by a drumming group Loco Bloco, we were heard inside hundreds of yards away from the road. At one point, where we could see the women on the yard, they were waving and yelling back at us. The women we know inside were telling others, "See, they are out there for us." At the end of the march a rally at the entrance to VSPW heard from many activists, former prisoners, and prisoners' families about the conditions in prison, and the hard road for ex-felons once they are released. A chant, "break a window, open a door, tear down a wall, 'till all the prisons fall" reflected our determination to continue the fight until prisons are abolished. |
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